Dragon Quest Composer Says Dragon Quest X In 2012

Dragon Quest series composer, Koichi Sugiyama, just wrapped up a Dragon Quest III concert in Japan. Following the end of the event (that’s some promotional material from the concert to the right), someone at the event tweeted that Sugiyama stated DQX is being developed with the goal of a 2012 release in Japan.

We didn’t run the story at the time because it seemed iffy, but AnimeAnime.jp (via Game Jouhou) have confirmed that Sugiyama did in fact make a statement to that end at the concert, confirming that he’s presently composing music for the upcoming Wii game.

2011 marks Dragon Quest’s 25th anniversary, and while we certainly don’t expect Square Enix to let it go by without some sort of celebration, it looks as though Dragon Quest X won’t be ready in time to celebrate the series’ 25th.

Oh shoot…
1. I soooooo wish I could go to those Dragon Quest concerts!!

2. 2012….WHY?! I want my next big Dragon Quest tomorrow evening!!! Well, whatever as long as X is going to be awesome(which every Dragon Quest so far mastered for me) I think I can wait…a bit..it’s hard but I can…I think…>_<

it was confirmed for Wii long time ago, however I beginning to think that this game is not going to see the light on Wii but probably in the successor, I heard that many nintendo consoles share the same architecture so porting a project intended for a nintendo console to another is not a hard task, well thats at least what I heard.

Also theres a precedent on case like this, in example, fantasy life and the fifth layton game were intended for the DS but both ended on the 3DS instead.

Wow I have to wait so long for my first entry in the number Dragon Quest games. How does it take so many years to make these games but other western developers of RPGs make theirs full of quests, AAA production values and such and crank them out every 2 years.

I think part of the reason may be that western studios tend to outsource more than Japanese ones do. In the case of bigger games, they outsource things like the in-game artwork to not one, but many external studios. One studio may get a set of 10 characters, one might get to do 20, one might be responsible for helping design environments and so on.

A lot of the time, they even pick and choose outsource studios at the start of a project. They’ll send out a “test” to several studios to complete, and have the ones with the best results work with them on the game. And not just studios in the U.S. They’ll outsource to China, to India, to certain European countries etc etc. China’s actually a big player in the games outsource business…relatively cheap labour and a lot of Chinese studios can adapt to different styles (and kinds of work), which makes them very attractive.

Altritter

You don’t have to wait. There’s nine games already out, play those in the meantime.

MrRobbyM

DQ VIII. It exists.

puchinri

Why wait specifically for X?

alundra311

Umm… Not to be rude or anything, but I think you’re forgetting who you’re talking to. :)

puchinri

No, that wasn’t rude at all. As a matter of fact, thank you. I don’t know why I even thought to ask. vuv;

Ive been waiting to get the PS2 when it would get lower cost (mainly for Tales of the Abyss…but….well now I dont need to get it). I gave a friend online my DS Lite since he didnt have one and had to borrow others and I was like, I dont use this DS Lite as it is so might as well give it to someone who will use it better. Though beyond Naruto and Pokemon and that gem, Super Robot Wars OG Sage Endless Frontier, I was never into like DS games due to the barrier.

puchinri

You’re not getting one to play P4 or any of the other games? But if you’re going to get a 3DS to play ToA, why don’t you just play the DQ games on it?

@puchinri Been tempted to get a PS2 for P4 but well Im just hoping for a P4P eventually, hopefully, though I did watch a whole gameplay of the game on youtube so Im not in a rush to get the game. I heard ds games look absolutely abysmal on 3ds.

HarryHodd

2012 on the Wii? Not sure I’ll care anymore by the time it reaches NA. Of course that depends on what other games are out for other systems and how good it is.

DisgaeaGuy11

on the wii? that sucks so much (for me). will have to borrow someone else’s nintendo console…

puchinri

It’s been said to be on the Wii for the longest time though. I thought it was accounced as a Wii game since the beginning just about (though I’m probably wrong)?

But if some people’s speculations are right, it won’t be on the Wii but Project Cafe.

Joanna

You’re right. It was announced as a Wii game way back. I was thinking it may have been moved to Cafe because it’s been so hush hush for awhile now, but I’m glad it wasn’t. I’m a big DQ fan but I hate buying a console during the launch window.

gatotsu911

Wonder if they’ll move it onto Project Cafe? I can’t think of a title Nintendo of Japan would be happier to have in their launch lineup.

HarryHodd

That would be interesting. Seems like Wii is on its last legs in Japan anyway.

PurpleDoom

In Japan, a Dragon Quest game will in all likelihood be just the thing to keep the Wii going. Even if it doesn’t do that, lots of people have Wiis already and if Project Cafe really is back-compatible the game itself will still move millions anyway.

No chance, can’t get Dragon Quest numbers as a launch game but it’ll probably be the lowest selling Dragon Quest either way because the Wii fad is over and it’ll be dead and buried by the time this releases.
S-E bet on the wrong horse and they lost big time, should be interesting to see how they salvage this

alastor3

wow calm down, you know you can buy wii game for the wii2 right ?

Zero_Destiny

SE bet on the wrong horse? Last time I cheeked the Wii’s sales were good and not just a fad. ^_^ I’ve enjoyed playing Wii games quite a bit and a lot of others have too. Please don’t insult it as such. Plus DQIX pushed more units than any other game in the series in both Japan and America/Europe. SE’s team up with Nintendo has been very profitable. :) Likewise no matter what console it’s on Dragon Quest will sell. There’s no doubt about that. =]

You’re right, was probably too harsh. Still, traditionally DQ lands on the highest selling platform which is why DQIX was on DS which is why it pushed monster numbers. S-E predicted Wii would be the next sales leader and obviously that’s not the case, not by a long shot – they should have stuck with DS or moved to PS3 or PSP because it’s hard to imagine it opening with the traditional 2-3 millions sales on the dying Wii and especially not the new and upcoming platforms which don’t have enough time to amass a large enough userbase by 2012

PurpleDoom

A lot of Dragon Quest games being on DS is part of why the DS userbase is so large in the first place – it’s a “system seller” series for a reason. I have little doubt the same thing will occur with the already popular Wii, and if Project Cafe is indeed back-compatible, that will only make the userbase even larger, as presumably not everyone who buys it will have owned a Wii. If you ask me, there’s no issue to salvage in the first place.

You don’t just want people to buy it, you want them to buy it day 1. The less people who buy it day 1, the more people who buy it used, can’t hope for them to buy it new years down the line once they own a Cafe system, obviously it will still sell very well but I think it will bomb relative to previous entries

People will really buy the system in 2012 with news of the Wii Successor, I cant imagine Dragon Quest X is some almighty system seller at that late game.

PurpleDoom

@Tsuna: Who knows? Even if sales of the Wii don’t go up by particularly much, the Wii still has an enormous userbase. It’s only natural that sales would slow down after all this time, since it was selling ridiculously well for a few years prior.

Dragon Quest basically IS an almighty system seller, though. It’s arguably the most popular game franchise in Japan.

@jerry: Wiis aren’t going to disappear overnight. There will still be plenty of people who can – and will – buy the game on day 1. I see what you’re getting at, though, and it does make sense that Project Cafe won’t really affect early sales at all. I doubt it will be a bomb, though – most people who own a Wii in Japan will probably buy it, and there will be some people who will buy a Wii for the game, even with Cafe coming up. I highly doubt it’s not going to get into the millions.

@PurpleDoom Natural? I mean isnt it Nintendos mission to sell as many consoles as possible, Im quite sure there is not a console sold for every person in a country, so it is entirely possible it could sell better and stronger than year one, if they had supported it right.

PurpleDoom

@Tsuna: Of course it’s natural. The Wii was sold out for AGES, as I’m sure you know, because so many people were picking it up. I’m sure there were quite a few returns as well, but so many people have the system already that you can’t expect it to continue to sell that well its entire lifespan. Which is why they’re bringing out titles like Dragon Quest X now, to pick up some of that momentum. Why would someone buy a Wii with Project Cafe on the horizon? Because it could be a cheaper, also attractive alternative to many people. People didn’t stop making PS2 games just because the PS3 came out, and that ended up working very well for Sony because it was a relatively cheap system with a large library of attractive games. Nintendo might want to try out the same strategy with the Wii.

Joanna

Actually with DQIX, SE announced that it would be released on the system with the biggest install base and that happened to be the DS at the time (although I don’t deny that DQIX probably helped but it certainly wasn’t THE reason for the big install base). If you look at where DQ goes, it always heads to the leading console (in Japan): NES->SNES->PSX->PS2->DS->Wii. The DS remakes were probably created to hype DQIX and get fans who didn’t have a DS yet, to buy one. (Probably also why the Wii got that Card Battler.)

Although with the Wii, there was also a deal between Nintendo and SE. It’s probably not the reason for 10 being on Wii but certainly a strong factor in the decision.

PurpleDoom

If I recall correctly, not only did it sell well but DS sales numbers went up considerably when DQIX was released, despite having been out in Japan for nearly five years at that point. Never underestimate the system-selling power of a Dragon Quest game in Japan!

HarryHodd

What’s the use in selling Wii’s just before the next console comes out? Pretty useless particularily when there isn’t a lot of other jrpgs to play on the system.

People would have to be silly to, not only not have a Wii at this point, but be physically waiting until 2012 for DQ X to buy a Wii when it will be wide knowledge that the fantastical Wii HD will be out.

PurpleDoom

You don’t want to entirely drop support for an old system just because you’ve got a new system coming out.

HarryHodd

Purple Doom haven’t they pretty much dropped support at this time? Now they are trying to support the 3DS and Launch Cafe succesfully(which looks to be a lot more risky than the Wii)

PurpleDoom

@HarryHodd: True, there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of Wii games coming from Nintendo at the time… then again, Nintendo releases on the Wii have historically been sparse, aside from last summer/fall with all the E3 announcements. They’ve still got Skyward Sword and strong third-party support with DQX, though, and they’ll need to release SOMETHING prior to Project Cafe to keep Wii customers happy and maybe sell a few more systems before Cafe comes out. I strongly believe that you shouldn’t just end your previous console’s “life” just because you’re releasing another one, though, and there are a lot of good things you can use an older console for.

Probably approaching fad levels, weekly sells are nearly on par with the PS3’s worst weekly sells. Really only system I think Wii is selling more now is Xbox 360…

DQIX was a DS game with connectivity, perhaps the combination of being a handheld in this age of great handheld numbers and with connectivity pushed units. SE’s team up? Well we dont know how well 6 did in the states and I cant recall seeing any ad.

gatotsu911

What you seem to be forgetting is that this is DRAGON QUEST we’re talking about, and it will sell millions of units in Japan if it is released for the freaking Famicom. I won’t be at all surprised if Nintendo convinces SE to bump it up to the next console, for obvious reasons.

kylehyde

It won’t surprise if thats the case, actually I think that this would be the case, I mean there already precedents of projects that were planned for a console and ended in the successor of said console.

In example fantasy life was planned for the DS long time ago and even there were some screen-shoots that show it as a DS game and almost a year later it was anounced that it had changed of plattform and that was the 3DS.

Yeah but then they couldn’t really use the hardware and that would be sad. DS and 3DS are similiar but from a console on the graphic level of last gen to a above next gen console?

kylehyde

What are you talking about about similar? The 3DS has proved that is much more above on graphical level that the DS, have you seen those beyond the labyrinth screens? or even the RE screens? As much as I love the DS, not even in my wildest dreams I’m going to see something like that.

Also the developers kits are distribuited with many months or even a full year before the console gets even announced.

PrinceHeir

agree, or it might have a simultaneous release just like Twilight Princess from Gamecube to Wii.

cannot wait for this :P

Level 5 the developer?

Phoenix_Apollo

Not everyone wants Project Cafe right away, guys, and I bet people there have been waiting for DQX for years. I have little trouble believing it’ll sell well in Japan on the Wii.

What do you mean? Everyone wanted the Wii right away, so like tradition, everyone would want the Nintendo Wii Successor right away. With limited advertising, Im in disbelief that people have been waiting for DQX for years, when was the last time a screenshot was released for it, or its feature set discussed, or anything beyond an interview?

PurpleDoom

Everyone wanted the PS2 right away, but that sure didn’t help out the PS3 when it came along. It’s not like we actually know anything about Project Cafe, everything circling around at this point – aside from confirmation of the existence of a new system and its reveal at E3 – is rumor. Granted, a lot of people are excited for it because, as you said, it’s Nintendo’s new system, but various things could go wrong prior to release that would make it not nearly as popular as the Wii – not to mention that the Wii has a bad reputation with no small part of the gaming community for various reasons, which has probably cost Cafe a few customers.

As for Dragon Quest X, people are excited for it, similarly to Cafe, because it’s confirmed to exist and there are a lot of fans of the series over there. As it gets closer to release, you can bet they’ll ramp up the advertising for it and it’ll likely achieve the series’ typically high sales.

PrinceHeir

well famitsu has ranked Dragon Quest X as the no.1 anticipated game as of now. without screenshot or info besides the composer ^^

so yeah i think it will definitely sell regardless if it’s the Wii or Project Care

I’m not quite sure why everybody’s worried about whether or not DQX will move Wiis. There are plenty enough Wiis already sold for the game to do fine. It will probably sell more than it would on whatever the Cafe ends up being called; the Wii install base is about as large as it will ever be which is by neccessity much larger than the Cafe’s early-adopter audience would be. If Cafe is backwards compatible (and didn’t they say it would be)? The point is moot anyway.

Maybe if Cafe has some kind of wacky new control scheme they’ll pull a Twilight Princess and sell an upgraded version for that.

HarryHodd

I wonder when we will get details?

PurpleDoom

If they’re launching it in 2012, I’d imagine pretty soon. I hope it’s pretty soon, anyway, because more Dragon Quest is always a good thing.

urbanscholar

Hmm I wonder if they are considering a worldwide release. I would imagine probably not as focusing on home would be the most advantageous. My second thought is when will be tantalized with a screen or two.

PurpleDoom

Given Square Enix’s recent partnership with Nintendo for international releases and a mutual goal of making the series more popular worldwide, I’d be surprised if this wasn’t released here. VI doesn’t have sales numbers, but IX did pretty well here, IIRC.

MrSirFeatherFang

Um, I’ve noticed that there are so many [insert # here]th Anniversary this year or maybe it’s my imagination…

Why couldn’t they wait until they had the new HD consoles ready? Dammit. And I hoped with the new Nintendo Console there won’t be any non HD Games anymore :C

Tom_Phoenix

I find it funny how people speak of the Wii as a “loser”, even though it is the home console with the biggest install base in Japan (and worldwide, for that matter).

Having said that, I wouldn’t be suprised if Dragon Quest X ends up being the last home console release of the main series (at least for a very long time). While I expect X to be a success, I don’t think it will surpass IX in sales. Combined with the lower development costs of portable systems as well as the fact that handhelds are increasingly cannibalising the home console market, it is very likely that Dragon Quest will continue its life as a handheld series.

Its probably the loser in terms of getting AAA level games. How often do Wii owners exclaim their burning desire for _______, ________, _______, and __________. To the average consumer, does “install base” matter…actually, I guess to an extent it does for competent online gaming, but the Wii has the least number of connected consoles, so it loses in that regard too.

At the end of the day it is what pleases one, so if it doesnt please one, one will see it as a loser. Thats what I think anyway.

And I need to go back and finish VI already, but Trails in the Sky is occupying most of my time.

thebanditking

2012? Seems odd for S-E to ring in the next game in their biggest franchise the same year Nintendo puts out new hardware. Oh well, you really have to wonder if we will see this released outside of Japan,considering Nintendo will be fully focused on Cafe by the time a localization would likely be ready. Personally I am ready to be done with Wii and move on to the next (my PS3 and 360 need to hang around for a while though).

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